Serving Tray

ABSTRACT

A serving tray ( 1 ), comprising a substantially flat bearing surface ( 2 ) for bearing products thereon, which bearing surface ( 2 ) is provided, at its perimeter ( 3 ), with an inwardly reaching recess ( 4 ), wherein, at the location of the recess ( 4 ), a supporting surface ( 5 ) directed substantially upwards and outwards with respect to the bearing surface ( 2 ) is provided for supporting the wrist or upper arm of a user of the serving tray ( 1 ) during use.

The invention relates to a serving tray, comprising a substantially flatbearing surface for bearing products thereon.

Such a serving tray is generally known and is often provided with abarrier extending along the perimeter of the bearing surface.

What is disadvantageous about the known serving tray is that thephysical load during serving with the serving tray is high.

Research has shown that, in particular, carrying out short cyclic tasksis one of the greatest risk factors with respect to absence throughillness in the hotel and catering industry. During serving up with thecurrent serving trays, the wrist joint located under the serving trayis, as it were, fixed and the elbow cannot be stretched without theserving tray losing its horizontal orientation. As a result, the userneeds to compensate in the back, the hips or the knees to bring theserving tray to table height.

From the prior art, a number of special hand-held serving trays areknown with which gripping with the hand is facilitated.

DE 1 682 747 and G 6 9013038 describe a hand-held serving tray with asubstantially flat bearing surface which is provided, at its perimeter,with an inwardly reaching recess which is provided with a thickening forgripping the serving tray with the hand.

GB 2 282 746 describes a plate which is provided, at its perimeter, withan inwardly reaching recess which is provided with a thickening forgripping the plate with the hand.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,948,474 and FR 2 532 883 describe a serving trayprovided with receiving openings, which is provided with a flat-edgedgripping opening for gripping the serving tray with the hand.

The invention contemplates a conventional serving tray of the typestated in the introduction, with which the physical load during servingcan be reduced.

To this end, the invention provides a serving tray, comprising asubstantially flat bearing surface for bearing products thereon, whichbearing surface is provided, at its perimeter, with an inwardly reachingrecess, while, at the location of the recess, a supporting surfacedirected substantially upwards and outwards with respect to the bearingsurface is provided for supporting the wrist or upper arm of a user ofthe serving tray during use.

Due to the combination of recess and supporting surface, the physicalload during serving out can be reduced considerably. In particular, therecess provides the user with more freedom of movement in the wristjoint during serving out. Due to this movement possibility, the wholearm gets more freedom of movement, so that fewer or no compensationsneed to be carried out with the rest of the body to bring the servingtray to table height. The supporting edge at the recess directedobliquely upwards and outwards acts as a support for the wrist duringserving out, so that the total supporting surface is enlarged and thestability of the serving tray is better guaranteed. Further, thissupporting edge directed upwards and outwards prevents the wrist jointfrom turning too much. During serving, the wrist joint is thus preventedfrom being able to get into a less favorable end position for receivingthe load.

Further, due to the combination of the recess and the supporting edgedirected obliquely upwards and outwards, the upper arm can be receivedin the recess and be supported by the supporting edge, so that theserving tray can be supported on the forearm. Thus, the center ofgravity of the serving tray can be brought considerably closer to thebody than normally, so that the physical load can be reduced greatly.

Due to these two ergonomic advantages during serving out and supporting,the physical load can be reduced, and the risk of physical complaintsand fatigue can be reduced. Further, the serving out will proceed moreefficiently. Also, with the aid of recess and supporting surface, it isachieved that the stability during serving out and supporting theserving tray is enhanced, so that the user loses less energy tocorrecting and compensating movements, and the risk of spilling and/ordamage to crockery can be reduced.

In an advantageous manner, the supporting surface can be part of abarrier extending along the perimeter of the bearing surface.

The invention also relates to a serving tray comprising a substantiallyflat bearing surface for bearing products, which bearing surface isprovided, at its perimeter, with an inwardly reaching recess foraccommodating the user's wrist during use when he places his hand underthe bearing surface for support.

The invention will be explained in more detail with reference to anexemplary embodiment shown in a drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a schematic perspective view of a detail of a serving trayaccording to the invention in which the recess and supporting edge arewell visible;

FIG. 2 a shows a schematic perspective view of a user during serving outwith a conventional serving tray;

FIG. 2 b shows a schematic perspective view of a user during serving outwith the serving tray of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows a schematic side elevational view in detail of the servingtray of FIG. 1 during serving out;

FIG. 4 shows a schematic perspective view of a user during supporting ofthe serving tray of FIG. 1 on the forearm; and

FIG. 5 shows a schematic side elevational view in detail of the servingtray of FIG. 1 during supporting on the forearm.

Further advantageous embodiments are set forth in the subclaims.

It is noted that the Figures are only schematic representations ofpreferred embodiments of the invention, which are given by way ofnon-limiting exemplary embodiment.

In the Figures, same or corresponding parts are designated by the samereference numerals.

FIG. 1 shows a serving tray 1, comprising a substantially flat bearingsurface 2 for bearing products thereon, for instance refreshments to beserved out. The bearing surface preferably has a substantially closeddesign. Within the concept of “substantially closed”, in this context,the supporting surface may optionally be provided with small openings,for instance for draining off moisture, which do not interfere with thefunction of bearing refreshments to be served out on the surface.

The bearing surface 2 is provided, at its perimeter 3, with a recess 4reaching inwards with respect to the center M of the serving tray 1. Atthe location of the recess 4, a supporting surface 5 directedsubstantially upwards and outwards with respect to the bearing surface 2is provided for supporting the wrist or upper arm of a user of theserving tray during use. In the exemplary embodiment, it is shown thatthe supporting surface 5 is part of a barrier 6 extending along theperimeter 3 of the bearing surface 2. As shown here, the bearing surfacemerges into the supporting surface, including an angle.

The angle between the supporting surface 5 and the bearing surface 2 ispreferably about 130°. As will be explained in more detail hereinbelow,it can thus be achieved that the wrist joint is protected against toofar a turning movement.

When the use of a serving tray according to the invention is comparedwith a conventional serving tray, various differences can be observed.In the following, a number of advantages of the use of a serving trayaccording to the invention compared to the use of a conventional servingtray are described.

Serving Out

During serving out, a serving tray is usually brought to table height.

In the use of a conventional serving tray (FIG. 2 a), the elbow cannotbe stretched without the serving tray losing its horizontal orientation.Because the conventional serving tray impedes movement of the wrist,compensation needs to take place within the body to provide that theserving tray comes to table height. This compensation can be realized bybending forward in the back and hips and/or by bending the knees. As isshown in FIG. 2 b, by use of the recess 4 with the serving tray 1according to the invention, the elbow can be stretched, due to the factthat the recess 4 gives freedom of movement to the wrist joint. Thesupporting surface 5 then ensures an adequate support of the servingtray 1 on the edge of the wrist, and protects the wrist from turning toofar.

Supporting

During supporting of the serving tray 1 according to the invention, theupper arm can be received in the recess 4, so that the serving tray 1can be supported on the forearm. This is shown in FIG. 4. The anglewhich the upper arm then makes with respect to the forearm isapproximately 130°, in particular 128°. This can be seen in FIG. 5.

To this end, during supporting, the serving tray 1 according to theinvention can not only be positioned firmly on the upper arm, but thedistance from the center of gravity of the serving tray to the body canalso be kept relatively small. Thus, the moment that the biceps exertsto keep the serving tray 1 horizontal can be considerably less than whena conventional serving tray needs to be kept horizontal. In the use of afull serving tray of 8 kg, the moment which the biceps needs to exert inthe use of a serving tray 1 according to the invention can, forinstance, be 800 Nmm, while this would be about 1600 Nmm in the use of aconventional serving tray.

Stability

During use of a serving tray, the stability is very important. With anoptimal stability, the person who supports the serving tray needs tocorrect and to compensate less. This is because the supporting becomeseasier. As a result, the supporting is less tiring, so that the servingperformance can be better, for instance due to a reduced risk ofspilling or falling crockery.

The stability of the serving tray depends on various factors, such asfor instance the stiffness of the serving tray and the positioning ofthe crockery on the serving tray. During serving out, the center ofgravity of the serving tray will continuously change position due to thefact that crockery is removed from the serving tray. Even so, theserving tray continuously needs to be balanced. Due to the supportingsurface 5 directed obliquely upwards and outwards at the recess 4,during serving out, the serving tray 1 according to the invention cannot only be supported on the hand, but also partly on the wrist, so thatthe supporting surface 5 is enlarged and the stability is betterguaranteed. This is shown in FIG. 3.

The supporting surface 5 directed obliquely upwards and outwards thenprevents the wrist joint from being bent to a maximum. What can thus beprevented is that the radius needs to pivot about the ulna to keep thehand horizontal, and that force needs to be produced in a position inwhich the muscle length is not optimal. Also during supporting on thearm, the supporting surface 5 directed obliquely upwards and outwardswill enhance the stability by cooperation with the biceps of the upperarm.

Alternatively, the serving tray according to the invention can bedesigned as a serving tray comprising a substantially flat bearingsurface for bearing products thereon without utilizing the supportingedge, which bearing surface is provided, at its perimeter, with aninwardly reaching recess for accommodating the user's wrist during usewhen he places his hand under the bearing surface for support.

In the following, a number of preferred embodiments of the serving trayaccording to the invention will be discussed which are referred to bythe name “Ergo-Tray”.

FIG. 6 shows a schematic three-dimensional view of the Ergo-Tray,corresponding with FIG. 1.

FIG. 7 shows a schematic two-dimensional view of the top plan view ofthe Ergo-Tray with important points and measures of a rectangular traywith a circular recess.

FIG. 8 shows a schematic two-dimensional view of the top plan view ofthe Ergo-Tray with important points and measures of a round tray with acircular recess.

For the Ergo-Tray, the shape of the serving tray 1 and of the recess 4is not of immediate importance so that a great freedom of shape iscreated, although the sizes of the shapes are related to one another.With regard to the recess 4, some preconditions are made. The recess tocreate room for the wrist joint can be realized by making a recess inthe tray 1, locally removing material or adjusting the shape of the tray1 such that room to move is created for the wrist. Due to this recess 4,the limitations with regard to the movements of dorsal and palmarflexion are reduced compared with the conventional serving trays. Whatis preferred for the width of the recess 4 is the situation where thewidth of the recess 4 is larger than the wrist width, in order to thusrealize the greatest freedom of movement of the wrist. This width (b)has a minimum dimension of approximately 40 mm and a maximum dimensionof L (FIG. 7). In a preferred situation, this width is betweenapproximately 60-110 mm. In addition, it holds for the Ergo-Tray thatthe size of the recess 4 in the inward direction depends on the locationof the center of gravity Z of the serving tray 1 without load. Thecenter of gravity Z should at all times fall within the supporting areaof the hand palm. The distance (SZ) between the center of gravity (Z) ofthe unloaded serving tray and the point of the serving tray whichcorresponds with the bend line of the wrist joint (S) is determined bythe length of the hand (FIG. 7). In order to make the Ergo-Tray suitablefor the great majority of all adults, the distance from the point of theserving tray 1 which corresponds with the bend line of the wrist joint(S) to the center of gravity of the unloaded serving tray (Z) should bemaximally approximately 156 mm. Preferred is the situation in which thecenter of gravity Z of the serving tray 1 projects in the middle of thehand. In this preferred situation, distance SZ is approximately 50 mm toapproximately 100 mm according to the average anthropometric values ofadults in 2004. Further, it holds that the center of gravity Z of theserving tray 1 should not fall within the space of the recess 4.

For a rectangular Ergo-Tray serving tray 1 (FIG. 7) of a length L and ofa width B with a circular recess 4 of radius r, the distance from theend of the recess (point S) to the center of gravity Z can be calculatedwith the formula:

${SZ} = \frac{{{1/2}\mspace{11mu} {lb}^{2}} - {r\mspace{11mu} {lb}} - {{1/2}\; \pi \; r^{3}} + {{2/3}r^{3}}}{{lb} - {{1/2}\; \pi \; r^{2}}}$

For a round Ergo-Tray serving tray (FIG. 8) of radius k with a circularrecess 4 of radius r, the distance from the end of the recess (point S)to the center of gravity Z can be calculated with the formula:

${SZ} = \frac{{\pi \; k^{3}} - {\pi \; {rk}^{2}} - {{1/2}\; \pi \; r^{3}} + {{2/3}r^{3}}}{{\pi \; k^{2}} - {{1/2}\; \pi \; r^{2}}}$

It will be clear that the invention is not limited to the embodimentsshown here. Many variants will be clear to a skilled person, and areunderstood to be within the scope of the invention as set forth in thefollowing claims.

1. A serving tray, comprising: a substantially flat bearing surface forbearing products thereon, which bearing surface is provided, at itsperimeter, with an inwardly reaching recess, wherein, at the location ofthe recess, a supporting surface directed substantially upwards andoutwards with respect to the bearing surface is provided and configuredfor supporting a wrist or upper arm of a user of the serving tray duringuse.
 2. (canceled)
 3. The serving tray according to claim 1, wherein thesupporting surface is part of a barrier extending along the perimeter ofthe bearing surface.
 4. The serving tray according to claim 1, wherein adistance from a point of the serving tray which corresponds with a bendline of a wrist joint of a user to a center of gravity of the servingtray is at least approximately 0 mm and at most approximately 156 mm.5-6. (canceled)
 7. The serving tray of claim 4 wherein the distance isbetween approximately 50-100 mm.
 8. The serving tray according to claim1, wherein a center of gravity of the serving tray is located outsidethe recess.
 9. The serving tray according to claim 1, wherein the widthof the recess is at least approximately 40 mm.
 10. The serving tray ofclaim 9, wherein the width of the recess is between approximately 60-110mm.
 11. A serving tray, comprising: a substantially flat bearing surfacefor bearing products thereon, which bearing surface is provided, at itsperimeter, with an inwardly reaching recess for accommodating a user'swrist during use when he places his hand under the bearing surface forsupport.
 12. The serving tray according to claim 11, wherein a distancefrom a point of the serving tray which corresponds with a bend line of awrist joint of a user to a center of gravity of the serving tray is atleast approximately 0 mm and at most approximately 156 mm.
 13. Theserving tray of claim 11 wherein the distance is between approximately50-100 mm.
 14. The serving tray according to claim 11, wherein a centerof gravity of the serving tray is located outside the recess.
 15. Aserving tray according to claim 11, wherein the width of the recess isat least approximately 40 mm.
 16. The serving tray of claim 15, whereinthe width of the recess is between approximately 60-110 mm.